While working in Macedonia, I have
had the privilege of working with the ProjectHOPE team established here. Learning
from them has been an incredible experience. The atmosphere generated here is
one that is professional, organized, fun, and exciting. Everyone works so well
together and helps each other in anything that needs to get done. It is a
really fun experience working with a team where even though everyone has a
specific title, the jobs overflow for everyone to review, help with, and work
on. This makes the dynamic very positive. This team has taught me a lot about
teamwork, communication, and organization. Learning how to be independent in
making decisions, while also, knowing how to include everyone to keep everyone
informed and updated has been extremely valuable for me. Just for the few weeks
of being here, I have gained confidence in myself with knowing how to work with
a team effectively, efficiently, and in a fun manner.
The Strategic Medical Re-Supply Program is
designed to help countries improve the quality of patient care, as governments
transition their health care systems to meet global health care standards, by
providing donations of priority medical materials to a network of partner
health care facilities and by creating training platforms for professional
development of health care providers. Through knowledge, equipment, and
support, this program will bring in the infrastructure needed to improve the
care, treatment, and overall well-being of the community. By including the
Nursing Mentorship Program, the course based off of PALS, and the Infection
Control Database, we will be further able to share our knowledge with the
hospital staff members here. The idea of sharing knowledge instead of just
teaching or educating is another important aspect to the programs at the
Pediatric Clinic. The staff here is incredible at what they do. They have many
techniques and skills that USA nurses may not be as advanced on. Due to this,
it is the sharing of knowledge that is critical to making these programs
successful.
The past few weeks have been
absolutely crazy. It began with my mom and brother coming to visit me! We met
in Croatia and had an incredible time seeing the old town of Dubrovnik and
spending some down time at the spa. After a few days of relaxation, we all flew
back to Macedonia and to the beginning of a very work packed week. For the
first time ever, the CEO, Dr, John Howe, came to visit the Project HOPE program
sites and the team. In preparation for this, the team here worked really hard
to make sure everything was in perfect order. Meetings for Dr. Howe with the
Minister of Health of Macedonia, the President of Macedonia, and the Vice
President of the Prime Minister were all set up. Dr. Howe is a man in his 70’s
who continues to travel all over the world visiting Project HOPE sites and
making connections and developing relationships between Ministers and Country
officials. He really showed how grateful and impressed he was with the team
here and showed his great appreciation for the hard work the team does. It was
such an honor for the team to host him in Macedonia and thank him for
everything that he does for the organization.
The last event of the day was a
round table meeting where the Minister of Health, other government officials,
and the Director’s of each hospital we work at were there to introduce one
another, begin creating more personalized relationships, and to have a dialogue
about the relationship between Project HOPE and Macedonia. At the end, yours
truly, was asked to present the Pediatric Concept to everyone and discuss the
programs that we want to implement!
It was so nerve racking but so much fun! I could not believe how much
confidence my team had in me to present the information. It was such a
rewarding experience and I felt so empowered at the end. I have to give a huge
thanks to my team here for putting their trust in me! They rock!
So during/after Dr. Howe’s visit, a
volunteer named Jennifer who is a Pediatric MD in the army, was here for two
weeks. She is super cool! The first week was designed to have her go to the
clinic and talk to the physicians in the immunology and pulmonology
departments. Jennifer is also a Pediatric Advanced Life Support Instructor, so
together we put together the Pediatric Life Support Course. This course is one
of the three programs that we want to implement at the Pediatric Clinic. It was
really an amazing experience getting to work with Jennifer. We had so much fun
together and she is extremely knowledgeable in her field. We have almost
completed the course so now we are adding the final touches and then will hopefully
be sending it to the Director of the Hospital for approval!
The day after Dr. Howe left, the
team and my mom and bro went to a little lake town called Ohrid to celebrate
Johnny’s and my birthday! I am so lucky that we got to spend it together even
in Macedonia!! For our birthday dinner, we had traditional Macedonian music and
dancing which was SO MUCH FUN and then went out to hit the town! It was
honestly the best way to turn 23. Thanks bro and mom!!! The day after our
birthday we went on an awesome boat ride to an old and beautiful church! The
boat ride was absolutely beautiful! The water was perfect and everyone was
enjoying the chance to relax. It was really really fun and I have to thank
everyone who was apart of it who made everything perfect.
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